A God Walks into Abar
"A God Walks into Abar" is the eighth episode in the first season of HBO's Watchmen, eighth episode overall. It aired on December 8, 2019. Premise Angela's mysterious past in Vietnam is at last revealed. Plot In Saigon, Vietnam, Dr. Manhattan teleports onto a street and puts on a discarded Dr. Manhattan mask. He goes into Eddy's Bar and a stocky man painted to look like Dr. Manhattan is seen. The real Jon Osterman finds Angela sitting at a table alone and nursing a drink. Dr. Manhattan picks up two beers from the bar and sits down with Angela, and asks her to have dinner with him the next night. Angela says she isn't interested and Dr. Manhattan asks if she'll let him sit with her if he guesses why she's drinking there alone. She agrees and Dr. Manhattan says that she's commemorating the anniversary of her parents' death. Angela invites him to sit down, and figures someone at the precinct sent him to her. She wonders who told him about her parents, and Dr. Manhattan says that she will in the next 20 minutes. He says that he's Dr. Manhattan and Angela wonders why he's there wearing a Dr. Manhattan mask then if that were to be true. Dr. Manhattan says that he doesn't want to be recognized, and Angela then jokingly asks if all this is a Zeus thing. She proceeds to tell Jon about how according to many Greek Myths, Zeus would come down from the heavens and how in all of these stories, he came down from Olympus, trying to get laid, But he'd turned himself into a swan or something along those lines to blend in. When Angela asks him about how Dr. Manhattan left for Mars, He explains that it's a recording of him on Mars, not the real him, and he's been on Europa for the last 20 years. Dr. Manhattan says that he is simultaneously in the bar and on Europa creating life with a wave of his hand. Dr. Manhattan proceeds to describe how he created life on the moon of Jupiter, including a man and woman that he maturate from fetuses. He says that while Adam and Eve are fictional characters, the first man and woman he created on Europa, one Jupiter's moons, are very much real. He then teleported a manor to Europa from somewhere in England that he's connected to from his childhood, and he feels safe there. Dr. Manhattan explains that he's living his whole life simultaneously, and his father was of Jewish ancestry. Jon and his father were brought to the manor in 1936 where the owners gave refugees sanctuary before they were taken to the U.S. In 1936, Jon mentions that his own mom left him and his dad, and that this forced them to flee to England for safety while they awaited passage to the USA. Hans repairs a watch and sends Jon to get him bread. Jon wanders off into a bedroom and hears people coming. The boy hides in a wardrobe and watches as a man and women come in and have sex. Jon drops an apple and the man hears it, and comes over and finds the boy in the wardrobe. However, Jon runs off before they can catch him. Later, the owners of the Manor find Jon and Hans eating at the dinner table. Hans thanks them for opening their home to them and has Jon introduce himself. The man asks to speak to Jon in private, and the couple take him to the chapel. They say that it's alright that Jon saw them and what he saw was a beautiful thing because they were creating life. They explain to a young Jon that they had a son that would have been Jon's age now, but he fell ill and died. The man says that it's God's will for them to try again, and proceeds to give him a Bible. Jon tells them that his father doesn't believe in them. But the woman says that it's alright, because they are still beautiful stories. One of which is Genesis, which tells the story about how God created the world. The couple asks Jon to make it his purpose to create something beautiful when he goes to America. Seven decades later on Europa, Dr. Manhattan fulfills his promise to that British couple and makes his version of Adam and Eve in the couple's image. He knitted their bodies from the microbes in the water. Two infants that by virtue of accelerated biomechanical maturation eventually became a man and a woman. He gave them higher brain function, instantaneous speech and self-awareness. And then he brought them to a place in which they could live. When Angela asks Jon if the whole process took 7 days, Jon says that the entire process took him approximately 90 seconds. To which Angela remarks by saying how typical that a man creates life in less than two minutes. Jon understands the reference being a sex joke. Angela congratulates Dr. Manhattan on his imagination, and Dr. Manhattan tells her that in six months time a colleague will tell him he lacks imagination. She asks why Dr. Manhattan left, and he says that he left to meet people. Dr. Manhattan tells Angela that he loves her and already was in love with her. Angela asks him if there was no moment when he realized he was in love with her, and she tells Dr. Manhattan that she's actually having the opposite of that moment. Dr. Manhattan removes his mask and Angela points out that Dr. Manhattan glows, but he explains that he wants to remain incognito and would rather she remain unsure until she agrees to have dinner with him. Angela says that is not going to happen because she hates Dr. Manhattan due to the fact that 40 years ago he went to Vietnam and wiped out the Viet Cong, and that this in turn inspired a puppeteer to make a bomb that killed her parents as retribution. Dr. Manhattan says that he was trying to be a superhero because people wanted him to, and he regrets it. She asks why he did it if he knew it, and Dr. Manhattan asks her to have dinner again with him even though she thinks she'll regret it. Angela asks if she does, and Dr. Manhattan tells her that she is. Angela proceeds to tell Jon about how he'll just stick out like a sore thumb when they go out in public. So she says that she won't have dinner with him. Dr. Manhattan tells her that she will actually come up with an elegant solution, which she'll explain how in two weeks. However, he refuses to tell her now until she has dinner with him. Two weeks later back in 2009, and Angela goes through the morgue checking bodies, finding three corpses that will be cremated because they have no one to claim them. She says that they have paper trails in the real world (i.e. birth certificates, passports, social security, etc.)and tells Dr. Manhattan to pick one. He suggests that she pick one unless she hasn't presented all of the options, and Angela pulls out the corpse of Calvin Jelani, who just dropped dead, and there's no family to pay for an autopsy, so his body will be cremated too and becomes ashes over Saigon. Angela admits that she's be comfortable with him as her choice, and Dr. Manhattan proceeds to take Cal's form. In the process of Jon transforming to look like Cal, Angela notices that Jon sounds different. He tells her that his vocal cords loosened in the transformation and he can change them back. But she says she likes how he sounds now. Angela then points out that he forgot to remove his symbol on his forehead. He says that he's going to forget so much more but that's a conversation for another time. Dr. Manhattan refuses to tell Angela what her solution is, and she insists that they won't have dinner. He says that they're together for ten years and it ends tragically. Dr. Manhattan refuses to be more specific, and says that her favorite song is going to play on the jukebox in a couple of seconds. It does so, playing Doris Day's "Tunnel of Love". and Dr. Manhattan explains that it's now her favorite song even though she's never heard it before. Angela finds Dr. Manhattan amusing, and he says that in six months she tells him to leave after they make love and have a big fight. Later in 2009, Angela and Cal are making love, and when she asks him where he is, Cal says that he's in the bar on the night they met, just before he created the egg. She tells him to shut up, lays down, and refuses to fight. Cal tells her that the fight will still happen regardless of his intent, and warns that they're close to an argument now. He tells her what she's going to say, and Angela wonders why they're together if they're not going to be together. Cal points out that her ability to know the future was reassuring to her before, as he describes her childhood. Angela angrily tells him to stop, and they agree that they're actually fighting now. He describes how he became Dr. Manhattan and was afraid then, and Angela wonders how he can be afraid if he knows everything that will happen. Cal apologizes and says that he needs Angela to say it. Angela tells him to leave and Cal teleports away. Cal goes to Karnak in Antarctica and finds Adrian watching his bank of TV monitors. He complains that humanity keeps making bombs despite the energy resources he's given them, and Cal tells him that they make them feel safe. Adrian realizes that Cal is Dr. Manhattan since he arrived naked. Once Cal puts on a suit, he tells Adrian that it's been 24 years since they last met. He recounts how Adrian tried to destroy him, and Adrian fabricates another "alien incursion". Adrian insists that he's maintaining world peace and tells him that racial appropriation is inappropriate in 2009. He wonders why Dr. Manhattan is masquerading as an African American male human, and deduces that love is involved. Cal says that her name is Angela, and explains that he told Angela who he really was the moment they met. Adrian figures that Cal wants to be a mortal, and Cal asks him for his help. His host tells him that he has a profound lack of imagination, and Cal laughs at how Angela told him six months ago that he has a fantastic imagination. Adrian asks if Cal has a brain, and says that they could insert a ring device into Cal's cortex that would short circuit his abilities so that he could only use them in life-threatening situations. He says that he made it 30 years ago, takes Cal to his study, and says that his attempt to destroy Cal was Plan B. Adrian takes out a case and Cal realizes that he doesn't know what is in it, and Adrian says that he irradiated the case with tachyon particles. He opens the case, revealing the Dr. Manhattan symbol in metal form. Adrian tells him he needs to have Angela put it in Cal's brain and he'll forget who he is. Cal figures that he and Will have matters to discuss, and Adrian tells him to discuss them while he still knows who he is. Adrian laments that his plans for a great future are ignored, and asks Cal if he'll live to see his utopia. Cal tells him that he will, but not on Earth. He created beings designed to care for others rather than themselves, and he did it on Europa. Their unceasing love and devotion is unsatisfying, so he must leave his creations behind. The creations are still there, waiting for someone to worship. Adrian figures that it sounds like paradise, and agrees to let Cal send him there. Cal wishes him godspeed and teleports him to Europa. Later, Cal shows Angela the ring and explains that she just pushes it into his head once he makes himself tangible. He admits that he doesn't know if it's going to work, and that's why it's a risk. Cal suggests that Angela tell him he was in an accident, and Angela figures they should start over somewhere that people don't know them. She suggests Tulsa, where her family is from, and Cal agrees. Angela wonders if he'll still be him if he forgets who he is, and Cal says that while he may lose his memories, she won't lose him. Back at the bar, Angela wants answers, and tells him to create some life. Dr. Manhattan creates an egg in his hand, and an unimpressed Angela wants to hear about the ten years that they're together. Dr. Manhattan says that they have three adopted children and they don't have his powers, and Angela says that she doesn't want kids and has never wanted them. He tells Angela that they adopt them in Tulsa, and says that she'll tell him that her family is from Tulsa in six months when he gives her a ring. Dr. Manhattan says that there's a period of time he can't see, and all he knows is that Angela is there when it begins and ends for him. When Angela smiles, Dr. Manhattan wonders why and she says that it sounds like a tunnel of love. Six months later in 2009 and Angela wonders if Cal will tell her what happens in ten years, and he says that he will. He gets down on knee and Angela kisses him on the forehead, and says that she loves him. Cal says that he loves her too as Angela puts the device into his brain. In the present, Angela looks at the ring she took out of Cal's forehead and tells him that they're in fucking trouble. Dr. Manhattan floats into the air for a moment, and Angela tells him that they're in Tulsa and it's the year 2019. She says that bad people are coming to hurt him, and realizes that Dr. Manhattan still has Cal's face. Angela tells him to change back to human for the children's sake, but Dr. Manhattan tells her that he needs to move forward. He remembers the White Night and how he instinctively disintegrated one 7K attacker. Dr. Manhattan teleports away, and the girls upstairs yell "Daddy!" Angela runs up and they show her that Dr. Manhattan is walking on their swimming pool. Topher realizes that he looks like Cal, and Angela says that is because he is. Dr. Manhattan teleports the children away, and Angela goes to the pool and asks where their children are. He says that she needs to see him on the pool because it's important for later, walks back onto the concrete, and says that the children are with Will who was expecting them. Dr. Manhattan explains that he talked to Will ten years ago when he was in Karnak, after he teleported Adrian to Europa. Ten years earlier, Cal teleports to Nelson Gardner's former mansion where Will is currently living. When Nelson died, he bequeathed the property to Will. Will doesn't believe he's Dr. Manhattan and slams the door in his face. Undeterred, Cal walks through the walls. After Will agrees to talk, Cal says that he's going to make some changes in his life and wanted to talk to Will. He explains that their lives have become entangled through someone known to both of them, and to ensure an optimal outcome he wants to form an alliance. Cal knows Will is Hooded Justice and says that it's about Will's granddaughter Angela. When Cal explains that Will's son Marcus Abars had a daughter Angela and they met in Vietnam, Will wonders what Cal wants with him. Cal says that Angela wants Will in her life, and it's clear she wants a family despite her denials. Angela takes in the fact that Dr. Manhattan is talking to Will "right now", relatively speaking. She asks him to ask Will how he knew Judd was a part of Cyclops. Cal asks Will Angela's question, and Will has no idea who Judd is, but replied he sure as hell does now. Dr. Manhattan tells Angela that Will didn't know who Judd was, but now he does. Angela realizes that it's her fault, and Dr. Manhattan wonders if it's a bad thing that Judd is dead. He realizes that they created a paradox. Dr. Manhattan teleports into the kitchen and makes waffles, and Angela smashes the floating eggs on the floor. She says that the 7K is coming for him, and Dr. Manhattan says that they're in a truck parked across the street. They're armed with a tachyonic cannon that they'll use to involuntarily teleport him and then destroy him. Angela suggests that they stop them, and Dr. Manhattan tells her that they can't. Angela puts on her Sister Night costume and goes out to fight 7K. Dr. Manhattan stares at her and says that it's the moment when she tries to save him even though she can't. He insists that he's always been in love with her, and Angela goes out and sees 7K setting up their cannon. They spot her and open fire, and the two sides exchange shots. Dr. Manhattan stands in the house and listens to the gunshots. Angela kills the driver of one of the trucks, then drives it into the others. She's wounded and the truck stops, and 7K prepare to shoot her. Dr. Manhattan arrives and kills them, and Angela tells him that they win and he was wrong. He tells her that he wasn't, and the remaining 7K fire the cannon, teleporting him away. Back in 2009 at the bar, Dr. Manhattan says that his first name is Jon, and he refuses to tell her what happens to them. Angela tells him that she can't get serious with someone when it ends in tragedy. Dr. Manhattan points out that all relationships inevitably end in tragedy, and Angela concedes to the point. He asks if she'll have dinner with her the next night, and Angela agrees. On Europa, the various Crookshanks and Phillips tie Adrian to the trebuchet. They ask him if he'll stay, and when he refuses they smash tomatoes into his face. Later, Adrian sits in his cell and reads. The Game Warden comes in with a birthday cake and suggests that Adrian wants to suffer. Adrian says that he doesn't want another book and the one he's reading is about loneliness. The Game Warden tells him that he understands loneliness, as he was the first clone to emerge from the water. He saw Dr. Manhattan made Heaven before his very eyes, and asks why it isn't enough for Adrian. Adrian says that his home is Earth, and his children are crying out for him to return. He tells the Game Warden that Heaven isn't enough because Heaven doesn't need him, and the Game Warden angrily tells Adrian to enjoy his cake. Once he's alone, Adrian blows out the candles on the cake and then sees the edge of the horseshoe in it: the one that Phillips used to try and cut the cake he presented Adrian with earlier. Laughing, Adrian uses the horseshoe to start digging at the wall to make his escape. Cast Main Cast *Regina King as Angela Abar *Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Jon Osterman/Calvin Abar *Tom Mison as Phillips and Game Warden *Sara Vickers as Crookshanks *Dylan Schombing as Topher Abar *Louis Gossett Jr. as Will Reeves *Jeremy Irons as Adrian Veidt Guest Starring *Lily Rose Smith as Rosie *Adelynn Spoon as Emma Co-Starring *Phillip Trieu as Bartender *Darrell Snedeger as Jon *Zak Rather-Oxley as Young Jon Osterman *Anatole Taubman as Hans Osterman Trivia * The episode was previously titled, "A God Walks into a Bar", but after the reveal that took place in An Almost Religious Awe, the name was changed to "A God Walks into Abar".Episode 8: A God Walks Into Abar - Medium *Strauss’s “The Blue Danube” waltz plays in the scene where Jon and Angela are talking at the bar. 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